Remembrance and Our Shared Humanity

The work continues.

This week is tough for all Americans, I think—the remembrance of 9/11 is seared into our collective consciousness, although with each passing year the horror of that day becomes a thing of the past to a new generation while remaining a blistering wound on those of us who remember every single detail of that awful, blue sky and sunshine September morning.

I know I have written about this before—but especially now, especially when truth and facts seem to be turning into Colbert-esque “truthiness” and fluid fictions to serve selfish ends, remembrance remains critically important. 

To see the Colbert explanation of Truthiness, click here --interesting that this is from 12 years ago!

Remembrance as a practice should be cultivated—not only to honor those we’ve lost in any tragedy—but to learn from those experiences, to accurately assess the “why?” of things, or at least the “what now?”  Sometimes there is no why. Certainly in all the awareness posts and remembrances of childhood cancer awareness month, those posts that shine gold across my Facebook feed, there is no WHY? – everything is WHAT NOW?  What can we do to FIX THIS?? What resources can we muster to find cures, to support survivors, to ease the pain of families who have lost children? And then I remember all the generosity and love directed towards our family when G was so sick in 2004-2006 and again 2011-2013. I remember all the folks who were not put off by my crabby cactus persona, but who loved us nonetheless.

Ha, Thursday. Got it to load.

Remembrance feeds hope and the connection that we need to live fully.

Remembering 9/11 hurts. Everything about that remembrance is painful. Hearing the names of those lost, 17 years now after that horrible day, still leaves a hollowness in my heart.  And yet I have seen on social media the remembrance of 9/12, the unity that came after the attacks. I remember going to my local church—not even my parish at the time (it is now) – that evening of 9/11 in an impromptu prayer service, the church was packed, the energy of grief, of shared sorrow and solidarity rose and fell in waves throughout the service. That remembrance is important, too. In our fractured society today—we need to remember that we CAN stand together. We can be united.

Remembrance always exists in a particular context; my remembrance of an event may differ from someone else’s, which does not make either of us necessarily inaccurate (this is why primary sources have to be corroborated).  Still, at the heart of remembrance is a tacit acknowledgement of our shared humanity—whether that be in the pain we feel remembering those children stolen by cancer, or the pain at the horror, death, and fear of 9/11, or the pain of being bullied as a child, or the joy of eating Grandma’s cucumber salad or the joy of coming in 5^th place in a race way back in 7^th grade even though you are the world’s most un-athletic person, and getting a t-shirt which you saved forever…all remembrances connect to our humanity. That is why remembrance is so powerful, and so important. 

yes, I still have the t-shirt. I just don't have the energy to take it out of the cedar chest, take a picture, try to upload a picture. It' s light blue t-shirt from 1983, believe me, it is AWESOME. It is actually pretty much the color of this page...hmmm...
Let's just say that "All I do is win win win no matter what!" was NOT so much the theme song of my childhood athletic endeavors.

Sometimes remembering weighs me down. Sometimes my DO THE THINGS are fueled by remembrance—sometimes my Lie on Floor and Do Zero Things is likewise driven by remembrance that I need to sit with for a while. Connection with our shared humanity through remembrance is not always a rainbow and unicorns kind of fest; it is a work, a work that continues. I am all for moving right along—but sometimes, some days, I know the greatest work I can do is to stop and remember.